Showing Status: Representation of Social Positions in the Late Middle Ages

by Wim Blockmans

How did people in the late medieval period perceive and express social status? This volume brings together multi-disciplinary perspectives on representations of social difference in the Low Countries during a time of dynamic social change. The premise of the volume is that medieval social change may only be fully understood if hierarchies of wealth and power are examined alongside literary and artistic sources. Medieval texts and material culture expressed social standing and gave meaning to the experience of social change. The aim of the study is to recognise and translate the language of symbols used to encode and display status in the late Middle Ages.

492 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1999

About the author

Willem Pieter Blockmans was Professor of Medieval History at Leiden University between 1987 and 2010. He earned a PhD from the University of Ghent. He has been Rector of the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study since September 2002. He has published extensively on late medieval and early modern state power.